


Break Free On A Saturday Morning

by forest_roses



Series: stars showing through the seams [5]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: (not a text fic), Again, Coffee Shops, Don't judge me too harshly please, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hotels, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Movie Night, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, ON 1 MONTH HIATUS, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Texting, dominik koudelka who? never heard of him, i'm just a humble aromantic trying to write romantic things, idk how weddings or wedding dates work, just pretend he doesn't exist for the sake of this fic, not between jacobi and eiffel though, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28081245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forest_roses/pseuds/forest_roses
Summary: Everyone has been happier lately. The past two years have been good, or at least as good as they could be. Goddard fell apart without its heads, and while adjusting and recovering has been difficult, having their little group of survivors safe and back home has helped. Renée and Isabel got engaged, Hera and Alana have a strong relationship,  and Doug… Well. Doug is Doug. Still working with communications (a radio show host, in fact), still making a thousand pop culture references a day, still watching the same movies a hundred times in a row, and still a little alone. Just slightly apart from the group, and from the rest of the world.And then there's Jacobi, a little separate too, and with more in common with Doug then either of them really realize.
Relationships: (queerplatonic), Doug Eiffel/Daniel Jacobi, Hera/Alana Maxwell, Isabel Lovelace/Renée Minkowski, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: stars showing through the seams [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785451
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from This Year by The Mountain Goats, which I can't stop listening to (especially as 2020 draws to a close) and which I think has a lot to do with Eiffel and Jacobi's attitudes towards life at this time. It also happens to coincide nicely with the first line of the fic, which was unintentional but makes me quite happy.
> 
> This fic is already plotted out! New updates should be every third Monday. I know it's a different style from how I typically write, but I wanted to experiment, and I hope you like reading it as much as I like writing it. Also, happy holidays to those of you who are currently celebrating! Please stay safe and stay home. <3 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

It starts on a Saturday morning, at a coffee shop, where Eiffel is sitting with Minkowski.

She looks good; happy, and a little excited. Her hands alternate between gesturing in the air in front of her and clasping her coffee mug. Outside, frost is lightly carpeting the ground, and the sun shines on it, determined to try and melt it. It’s one of those days where Doug can tell how cold it is outside just by looking at the crispness of the sunlight and the tree branches swaying in the wind. He dislikes the cold (memories of those horrible times alone in space) but right now, with good company and a warm drink, and tinny speakers playing old Christmas music, he doesn’t mind it as much.

Minkowski- Renée, he reminds himself (it’s been a long couple of years back on earth, trying to adjust to life without the same order of command and regular tasks, and for all that he was irreverent and disrespectful before, letting go of that last piece of formality has been more difficult for him than it should have)- is telling him about the struggles of trying to pick a cake for her wedding.

“I mean, they’re all the same basic two flavors! How many names can you come up with for chocolate and vanilla? Isabel just said they all tasted good, and I agreed, but how does that help us?” she says, and Doug smiles.

Both Renée and Isabel have been much happier lately. Everyone has, broadly speaking. The past two years have been good, or at least as good as they could be. Goddard fell apart without its heads, and while adjusting and recovering has been difficult, having their little group of survivors safe and back home has helped. Renée and Isabel got engaged, Hera and Alana have a strong relationship, Daniel is working in a high-up position for some important company, and Doug…

Well. Doug is Doug. Still working with communications (a radio show host, in fact), still making a thousand pop culture references a day, still watching the same movies a hundred times in a row, and still a little alone. Just slightly apart from the group, and from the rest of the world.

He comes back to himself with a little start when he realizes Renée has stopped talking. She’s looking at him a little sadly, and there’s a question in her gaze. “Sorry, I’m a little tired,” Doug says, and looks down at his coffee.

“Did you find a date for the wedding yet?” Renée asks, and here it is, the part he’s been dreading. He’s been avoiding this subject for the last month, but eventually, he knew it would come around.

“No,” Doug says, and changes the topic to how Isabel’s new puppy is doing. Renée goes along with it, but he notices that same look in her eyes again, the question he doesn’t want to answer.

* * *

Later, over dinner in his little apartment, (technically, it’s Hera’s apartment too, but she stays over at Alana’s so often that everyone just calls it Doug’s apartment) he thinks over the day. It’s always nice to spend time with his friends, and he sees Renée and Isabel least often, since they live in a different apartment building than the rest of them. Alana and Daniel live just above him, and he often spends the evenings at their apartment. 

_ Like tonight _ , he thinks, as he checks his phone. There’s a text from Hera, telling him that he is needed urgently upstairs because they are having a Lord of the Rings marathon, and Hera refuses to start without him. Doug’s thankful for the opportunity. He’s grown less and less comfortable with being alone since he got back from the Hephaestus.

The apartment smells like popcorn when he pushes the door open, and Hera smiles at him from one of the two couches. Alana is intently studying the back of the dvd case, but she greets him when he passes her. Daniel presses play on the remote once Doug sits down next to him on the other couch, and their eyes meet briefly as he glances at him.

It gives Doug an idea, and though he participates in the discussions as the movies progress, his mind is elsewhere for most of them. Daniel walks to the door with him when Doug leaves, still discussing whether Aragorn or Legolas is a better character. He smiles as he says goodbye, and Doug walks back down to his apartment deep in thought.

He makes up his mind just before falling asleep.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the second chapter of My Broken House Behind Me (And Good Things Ahead) coming out on New Years Eve, and then it's back to normal schedule with this fic being the main focus. Stay tuned for a new multi-chapter fic coming soon- though a new college semester starts in January, so I may not be able to post it as soon as possible.

Doug texts Daniel at 12:20 pm the next day, and immediately panics. He’s never really been one for texting (or calling- the irony, of course, is that he works in communications and yet hates communicating any other way besides face to face.) Hera and Renée are the only people he feels comfortable texting, partially because Renée never texts for too long, and partially because he and Hera know each other too well to be awkward.

Daniel, on the other hand, is new territory, and Doug is beyond nervous texting him. The subject of the texts is also not helping his anxiety terribly well, but there’s no way Doug is going to ask Daniel about it face to face.

**E: hey do you have a date to renée and isabel’s wedding yet**

**J: no.**

**J: why?**

**E: i thought maybe we could go together**

**E: i don’t have a date either**

**E: in case that wasn’t obvious**

**_Jacobi is typing…_ **

**J: you do realize that the wedding is a month away, right?**

(Doug had not realized that, in fact. He had just wanted to get the awkward conversation over with as soon as possible.)

**E: yeah i just thought it’d be better to ask early**

**E: otherwise renée is never going to stop asking me who i’m taking**

**_Jacobi is typing..._ **

Doug still hasn’t given an actual explanation for why he chose to ask Daniel. He doesn’t have one, other than that he had realized Daniel’s eyes looked really pretty in the light from the movie screen (and he had wanted more excuses to see those eyes.) He’s definitely not going to say that, text or otherwise.

**_Jacobi is typing..._ **

**_Jacobi is typing..._ **

**J: i’ll think about it**

* * *

It’s been exactly twenty four hours, and Doug is still panicking. Maxwell and Hera are both out, and Doug knows for a fact that today is Daniel’s day off, so Doug hasn’t left his apartment today. The chances of him running into Daniel while taking out the trash or heading to the parking lot are slim, but Doug isn’t taking the chance.

He still doesn’t know what he was really thinking, asking Daniel to be his date. He sometimes thinks that part of his brain operates without the other half, and makes decisions without consulting him. If anyone asks him, he’ll just say it was convenient, though he doesn’t understand what he means by that.

There is a lot of not knowing and not understanding going on in Doug’s head lately, and it’s getting confusing.

Eventually, when he’s starting to feel like he’s about to crawl out of his skin and start turning into some sort of weird, jittery insect, Doug decides to go out. He thinks there’s a new coffee shop in town, and he always makes it a point to try each new shop when they come. Most of them are just average, but he’s found a few favorites.

Doug does not sneak out of the building. He is a dignified and (mostly) functional member of society, and he does not sneak around corners to avoid people that he’s asked out. He just thinks it might rain, so he stays near the walls to keep under the roof so his jacket doesn’t get wet. (And yes, he is sticking to that excuse, even though it is bright and sunny outside, and ignores the look Jeremiah from two doors down gives him when he sees him.)

The coffee shop is pretty good. There’s some really obnoxiously fancy chairs at the tables, and initially Doug is put off by how hard the place is trying to look modern, but the coffee itself is strong and the scone he has is probably one of the best things he’s ever eaten. The barista smiles at him and flirts a little when they bring his coffee, and ordinarily Doug would be flattered, but right now he keeps thinking about green and brown eyes, and gets distracted.

He leaves a good tip, and heads home, pretty satisfied that he’s found a new contestor for his favorite coffee shop. He’ll probably dream about that scone for years to come.

* * *

It actually is raining when Doug gets home, and his jacket gets drenched as he runs to his apartment door from the parking lot. He doesn’t really mind, but his phone is a little wet when he pulls it out of his pocket. As he goes to dry it off, he turns the screen on, and sees two new message notifications.

**J: okay.**

**J: but at least buy me a drink first.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jacobi's eyes are green and brown btw. In my head, he has heterochromia. I realized Doug thinking about those color eyes is weird without context, sorry.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I reuploaded this chapter because I think I messed up the inital upload.)
> 
> Yes, Eiffel knows Jacobi was joking about getting a drink at a bar but I don't know anything about bars or alcohol. Also, this gave me an excuse to drink coffee at 2 am for "research purposes".
> 
> Thanks for being patient about the late update! The next one should be up on the 25th, as originally planned. College has been particularly stressful as of late, so I apologize if there end up being any more issues! I did that common thing where I stared at this chapter for so long I stopped being able to tell if it was any good, but I hope you all enjoy!

The coffee shop is mostly empty when Doug gets there a few days later. Inside, there is condensation fogging up the windows, and the air is stuffy and filled with the smell of strong coffee and things baking. The couch he sits down on, while admittedly hideous, is strangely comfortable, and he feels a little less apprehensive about the meeting to come with a warm mug of coffee in his hands.

Doug sees Daniel arrive at the shop before he actually comes in, pausing out front and looking up at the sign for a moment. He sees Doug as soon as he walks in, and heads towards him, putting his phone down and greeting him before going up to the counter to order. 

There’s still a slight air of awkwardness between the two of them, left over from their initial rocky introductions back up seven light years away from earth, and where it went away for the others, it only seemed to grow for them. It’s not that Doug doesn’t like Daniel (he does, actually, because Daniel makes him laugh and likes bad movies and debating random topics.) It’s just that he’s honestly not certain Daniel likes him. He’s a lot more quiet around Doug than he is around the others in their group, and he always seems to. It’s probably nothing, but still, Doug can’t help feeling anxious.

“Hey,” Daniel says, setting down his coffee on the side table and sitting down next to Doug, and, shoot, why did Doug pick the couch? It dips in the middle and makes them both lean slightly towards each other, and Doug is so not going to think about the fact that Daniel smells faintly of woodsmoke and vanilla, or about how his eyes somehow look even more green and brown than before.

He isn’t thinking about that at all.

Daniel’s looking at him now, and Doug belatedly remembers to respond. “Hi,” he says (and did his voice just squeak? It definitely squeaked.) He looks back down at the coffee mug in his hands, willing the chorus of embarrassment in his head to quiet down.

Daniel just smiles, and says, “So. I’m kind of new to the whole ‘wedding date’ thing. Are we going to need matching tuxes or something?” Doug laughs, and just like that, they’re talking about it.

It’s a lot easier than he’d expected.

* * *

Honestly, Doug isn't even sure who came up with the idea in the end. All he knows is that a little less than an hour later, he’s in his car driving back to his apartment, trying to come up with ways to fool his friends into thinking he really is dating Daniel Jacobi. In hindsight, maybe they should have discussed it more, but he was too busy trying not to let his voice squeak again (and he kept getting distracted by the shade of lipstick Daniel was wearing- a deep green, matching his right eye.)

It seemed like a good plan, at first. Their friends, while being well-intentioned, have been pressuring them more lately about finding someone, and it’s not implausible that the two of them would be together. (Maybe not very probable, but still, it’s something.) It’s certainly not a conventional plan, but none of their shared experiences so far have been conventional.

And it’s simple enough. Pretend to have been dating for some time, go to the wedding together, then pretend to break up a couple weeks later. None of their group will pressure them for a while after that. Sure, they’ll want to know why Doug and Daniel kept it hidden for a while, but no one is going to question them too closely about it. Hopefully.

Running through it in his head again, Doug is starting to get worried. What if they don’t pull it off? What if someone asks them a question and they can’t answer it? What if Daniel changes his mind? What if their friends get too suspicious?

They both get back to the parking lot at the same time, and Daniel waves as he walks up to his apartment. Doug lets himself into his own, and sets down his keys, looking down at his phone calendar as he shuts the door. Almost four weeks until the wedding. There’s still time to figure this out, and he’s not exactly upset at the thought of spending more time with Daniel. He’s fun to be around, and even though Doug always feels slightly self-conscious talking to him, at least Daniel seems comfortable.

Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ends 2020 by listening to This Year by The Mountain Goats*  
> *starts 2021... immediately starts listening to This Year by The Mountain Goats*
> 
> Btw, Jacobi in green lipstick was an idea I got from the (amazing) Kepcobi fic "I Don't Love You, Too" by Dansnotavampire. Go read it if you haven't already! (I don't know how to link to the fic unfortunately.)


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context, the wedding is taking place in a national/state park outside the city. Everybody is staying overnight at hotels, since it's a long drive away from where they live.  
> I picture the wedding spot as near a waterfall in the woods. Like when people get married in Yosemite and such. I don't have much more than that though.
> 
> Longest chapter yet!! Here we go!
> 
> Also, I had to do a ridiculous amount of research on weddings for this, and I still probably got most things wrong. Oh well.

_Three and a half weeks later_

This is, without a doubt, one of the worst ideas Doug has ever had (and that’s saying something.)

He knows this, because he is currently two hours into the three hour drive up to the hotel where they’ll be staying for the wedding, and he’s completely run out of topics to talk about. Doug Eiffel, running out of things to talk about. Maybe the apocalypse really did happen.

The radio is on, but it’s turned down, and the station is one of those generic “pop rock” stations that pretty much just plays Ed Sheeran and Maroon 5, with maybe the occasional Imagine Dragons song. It’s not Doug’s favorite, but he has no idea what music Daniel likes, and he’s too afraid to ask.

They get to the hotel just before three, and have to wait a few minutes in the lobby before they can check in. The man at the desk is very nice, and he gives them their room key with a smile and a wink, and Doug remembers exactly what is making him wink at the two of them.

Inner Doug is very proud of Outer Doug right now. Outer Doug is doing a great job of not showing any of the extreme panic Inner Doug is feeling right now. Outwardly, he isn’t showing any signs of stress at the remembrance that, oh, right, he’s going to be sharing a bed with Daniel for two nights.

Inwardly, he’s a lot more nervous.

It’s not that he’s particularly upset by the idea of sharing a bed with someone. When the crew first got back to Earth, Doug spent a lot of nights curled up with Hera in their tiny apartment, grateful for her company when his nightmares got particularly bad (and for the extra warmth on the many,  _ many _ days that their apartment's awful heating system broke.) He’s never really been someone to shirk physical contact, he’s quite a tactile person with his friends, so that’s not the problem. It’s just…

When you share a bed with someone, even just for a couple nights, you learn more about them. You learn what they look like with bedhead in the mornings, and when they’re half asleep and drooling on the pillow, and sometimes what they sound like when they talk in their sleep. It’s strangely… intimate, just existing that close to someone else in that relatively helpless state of being. And Doug likes Daniel, actually a lot more than he’d initially thought, and he’s not unhappy with the concept of getting to know him better. But this all feels a lot more real than he’d thought it would, and he’s not even sure what that means.

And then there’s the nightmares.

He gets them a lot. Less now than he did up on the Hephaestus, and less than when he first came back to Earth. Hera was a huge help, always being there when he woke up, and slowly he learned to talk about them when he could. He’s been going to therapy (it’s helped with a lot of things) and at this point, he tends to view the nightmares as just another part of life. But it’s different when he knows someone else will be there, who (presumably) doesn’t have any idea about the nightmares. 

Maybe it’ll be better tonight. Maybe he won’t dream at all, or at least the nightmares might be the silent kind. The silent kind are worse, because they build up inside him and then he doesn’t have the outlet of waking up panicked and talking rapidly, but at least they’re quiet.

He realizes suddenly that they’re at the room now. Daniel has the card key, and he has to scan it several times before the door actually unlocks. They step in, and immediately, Doug has to force himself not to panic.

The bed is tiny. Like, maybe it was queen sized at one point in time, and then somebody sawed off part of it. It’d be generous to call it a full sized bed.

“Um,” Doug says, “I swear I booked a bigger room.”

Daniel laughs (there may be some anxiety in that laugh, but Doug is currently too nervous to actually be able to tell.) “They must have given us the wrong room,” he says. “I can go check up at the front desk.” Doug nods, and tries to look like a regular person who is not at all panicking.

A few minutes later, Daniel returns, looking apologetic. “They said the hotel is almost full at the moment. They don’t have another room to give us. There’ll be a small discount, since they did make a mistake, but there’s nothing else they can do.”

“Well, at least there’s a great view,” Doug says, gesturing out the window to the busy road below and rows of tall office buildings blocking the horizon. When in doubt, he knows that jokes sometimes lighten the mood. Maybe. If they’re good jokes. That probably wasn’t a good joke.

Daniel laughs anyway, and sets down his bag on one side of the bed. “It’ll be a better view at the park tonight and tomorrow. It should be nice to be in the woods again, I haven’t gone in years.”

Doug doesn’t know how he didn’t realize Daniel would like the woods. It should be obvious, he thinks, once you’ve talked with him a while. And they have been talking a lot recently, spending more time together to plan things a little better, and also just to get to know each other more. It’s been nice. Daniel has a lot of interesting stories from his SI5 days, and he doesn’t seem to mind when Doug goes off on rants about bands or old movies or weird facts he found. They get along.

* * *

The wedding rehearsal goes well. It’s a small group, just the remaining crew and a few friends and family. Doug is Renée’s best man (a fact that stresses him out, but also makes him feel honored.) He’s been helping plan the wedding for a while now, and he’s glad to see that everything seems to be going great. He has a small speech ready for the wedding toast, and the pop culture references have been kept to a minimum (mostly.) Renée and Isabel are excited and happy and generally very cheesy, and Doug is relieved to see that Renée is slightly less worried about the wedding day than she’s been for most of the past month.

The rehearsal flies by, and with the focus on Renée and Isabel and the wedding itself, Doug barely has time to worry about Daniel. In fact, it’s not until their group sits down to dinner later that night that he remembers they have to act like a couple. It’s honestly slightly easier than he thought. The past few weeks of spending time together have made the two of them much more comfortable around each other, which in turn has made their conversations much less awkward. It feels almost natural, the whole group talking and laughing while Daniel has his arm across the back of Doug’s chair.

Doug had been a lot more worried when he first told Renée and Isabel about Daniel, a couple of weeks before the wedding. He spent the whole time driving over to her house rehearsing a thousand different lies that he hoped would sound convincing, and ended up not having to use any of them in the end. He had just responded, “Daniel,” when Renée asked about his wedding date, and smiled and looked sheepish when she just raised an eyebrow at him. To Renée and Isabel’s credit, they didn’t push him or ask for any more details beyond asking when the two of them started dating. “A few months ago,” Doug had said. “We just wanted to keep it private for a while.” And then the conversation had moved on to Isabel’s puppy, who was currently trying to attack Renée’s shoes, and the stress of the situation eased considerably.

Alana had been a little less calm about it, Jacobi had told him. Mostly, though, she had just teased him and then asked if this meant he’d be moving in with Doug, so she “wouldn’t have to keep finding obscure kinds of cheese filling the fridge, blocking her way to her leftover pasta.”

Hera had smiled, and given them both a hug, and said she was happy for them.

* * *

After dinner, the group separates. Hera and Alana whisk Renée and Isabel away, citing something about a bachelorette party, and Daniel and Doug say goodbye to the rest of the guests and head back to the hotel. It’s dark out now, and the city is humming with life and light as they drive through it. The lights in the windows of the buildings across the street from their hotel keep the room bright even with the curtains pulled shut, which will probably annoy Doug later, but right now he doesn’t mind as much. 

Jacobi turns on the TV and grins. “I didn’t realize they still made this show!” he says.

“What is it?” Doug asks, sitting down on the foot of the bed.

“It’s this awful cooking show. Like, I love it, but it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever watched. The contestants all get a set of ingredients, and a time limit, and they have to make a dish out of them without instructions. Most of the time every dish is terrible, and half the kitchen gets set on fire, and all the contestants yell at each other about nothing. One season, a contestant started sabotaging their opponents, and then still lost because their breaded chicken was soggy. It’s hilarious.”

Doug can’t help but laugh. “Is it a new episode?”

“I think so,” Daniel says. “Do you mind if we watch it?”

“Not at all,” Doug replies. “I’m intrigued.”

They end up sitting side by side on the bed, laughing at the mishaps of the various contestants. Doug immediately starts rooting for one contestant, but he can’t help but be amused when she gets voted off first because her cake (she tried to make one out of two carrots and some flour) is a complete mess. Daniel’s favorite makes it through three episodes before leaving, and Doug has to agree that it’s unfair (Becky’s coleslaw was so much worse.)

By the time the show is over, Doug feels a lot more comfortable. The bed is still way too small for two people, but they do the best they can. As he falls asleep, (decidedly not thinking about Daniel right next to him) he wonders if maybe, tomorrow won’t be as stressful as he thought.

He’s enjoying “dating” Daniel a lot more than he thought he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain: um they could have just booked a hotel room with two beds, no one would realize  
> Me, banging pots and pans together: And There Was Only One Bed!!
> 
> (It's happening!!)


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My lack of knowledge about weddings is showing here. I did research, I promise! Also, initially, this chapter was supposed to have an extended section that was just Eiffel freaking out after seeing Jacobi in a suit. I took it out, because I couldn't make it fit into the rest of the chapter, but it's technically canon in this fic that Eiffel did see Jacobi in a suit and then panic, because let's be honest, Jacobi in a formal suit would be a sight to see. Just saying.
> 
> The Wolf 359 subreddit has voted, and Minkowski and Lovelace are both wearing suits! If any of you voted, thank you!
> 
> If you didn't see the last update, I've changed the update schedule for this fic to every third Monday.

The wedding takes place in the late afternoon. The spot is gorgeous; a little clearing of rock in the forest, in front of a waterfall. The party stands just far enough away as to not get drenched by the spray, but the minister's words are still slightly drowned out by the roaring of the water. It doesn't really seem to matter to Reneé or Isabel. They both beam at each other, and if their suits get a little wet from the impressively long reach of the waterfall, no one mentions it.

The vows are medium-length and beautiful. If it were Doug, he'd maybe have thrown in some more Princess Bride references (true love, after all) but judging by the grins on the brides' faces, they're pretty happy either way. The party cheers when Reneé and Isabel kiss, and Doug does not cry, thank you very much. He just gets something stuck in his eye and has to spend several minutes trying to get it out. Unsuccessfully.

Daniel catches his eyes (his very, very dry, definitely-not-teary eyes) and smiles. He doesn't say anything to Doug, just puts an arm around his shoulders and congratulates the brides.

At the reception, Doug's speech goes off smoothly (well, maybe he fumbled over a couple words here and there, but that thing got stuck in his eye again and it broke his concentration.) Reneé only rolls her eyes once at his mention of The Princess Bride, so Doug counts that as a success. Isabel gives him a hug, and thanks him. Alana gives her speech, too, and Hera smiles at her while she does.

Later, as the reception is slowly coming to an end, Doug goes over to congratulate Reneé and Isabel one more time before heading out. Daniel passes him when he walks away, heading to talk to them as well. Doug stands near the door, by the corner of one of the tables, waiting for him.

It’s when he’s standing there, watching Jacobi laugh at something Isabel says, that Alana comes up next to him.

“You know, you two seem really great together,” she says, half-startling Doug out of a trance.

“What?” he says, voice slightly high-pitched. Smooth, Doug.

“You and Dan. You’re great together,” she repeats, smiling at him. “He’s been a lot happier recently, and I think you have been too.”

Doug doesn’t know how to respond.

“Look, all I’m saying is that I’m glad for you two.” Alana’s smile gets slightly sharper. “And if you hurt him, I know all the security codes Hera programmed for your apartment. I will hunt you down.” Her smile goes back to normal, only a hint of the threat still there. She looks over her shoulder. “Sorry, Hera’s calling me. See you later, Doug!”

He stands there, a little lost, for a few moments, until Daniel walks up to him. “Ready to go?” he asks, and Doug nods. Daniel takes his hand as they walk out into the parking lot. “Nice wedding, huh?” he asks, and Doug agrees.

He might be in a little over his head here.

* * *

In hindsight, Doug should have known this day was too good to last.

He wakes up at four in the morning, with a nightmare still clawing at the back of his mind. It's not anything in particular, really, just flashes of images and memories and sound, but he still ends up shaking. He can’t tell if he’s been making any noise; right now his brain is fuzzy and fogged up and aching with the last remnants of the dream. The hotel room is mostly silent, just the creaking sounds of the air conditioning unit and some footsteps from the room above, and for a second Doug thinks he didn’t wake up Daniel.

But then he sees the figure laying next to him turn over, and sit up, watching Doug carefully. Daniel’s face is still tired-looking, but his eyes are clearly awake, from what Doug can see from the light filtering in through the curtains. He doesn’t seem upset at getting woken up, thankfully.

“You okay?” he asks, voice still rough from sleep. Doug, for the second time in as many days, doesn’t know how to respond. He’s still shaking. He leans back against the headboard, willing his mouth to move. It doesn’t.

Daniel shifts, slowly, giving Doug time to move away if he wants to. Doug doesn’t move, and Daniel quietly tugs him into a side-hug, arm across his shoulders and still leaning against the headboard. “This all right?” he asks, and Doug nods.

They sit there for a few minutes. Doug’s mind is less foggy now, but it’s racing, crammed full of thoughts and panic. He stays still, trying to focus on the sounds of the city traffic outside the window. Usually, it’s calming to him, but it doesn’t seem to be helping tonight. His head hurts, and he can’t seem to take a breath.

He leans a little more into Daniel’s side, and, as if he can sense Doug’s silent wish, Daniel reaches over with his other hand and laces their fingers together. It helps. His grip is strong, but not harsh, and it anchors Doug, starts to pull him down and away from his thoughts, back into the moment. The hotel room is cold, and the sheets are slightly coarse, but Daniel is warm and his hand is soft. A distant part of Doug’s mind decides that he’d enjoy this, just sitting close together, not needing to talk or acknowledge the rest of the world, if he wasn’t still fighting away residual panic.

Sometime later, when the footsteps upstairs have stopped and the sounds of traffic outside have started to get steadily louder, Doug shifts again. He doesn’t move out of the hug, and keeps his hand firmly in Daniel’s, just sits up straighter against the headboard. His shoulders are less tense now, and he can feel an ache in them that will probably last for a while.

“You okay?” Daniel asks again, and this time Doug nods. “Do you want to talk about it?” Doug shakes his head at this question. His therapist always tells him that it could help to talk to someone about his dreams, but he never wants to, feels like it’ll somehow bring them out of the realm of sleep and into the real world.

“What time is it?” he asks.

“Just before five,” Daniel responds. “There’s still time to rest more, if you want. We don’t need to leave until noon.”

“Yeah, I think more sleep sounds pretty good right now. We didn’t even get back here until, what, like two?” Daniel nods. “Sorry I woke you up,” Doug says.

“Don’t worry about it,” Daniel replies. “I get nightmares too, I know how hard it is to stay quiet during them. Is there something I can do to help?”

“Honestly, this is helping a lot,” Doug answers, nodding to their clasped hands. Daniel smiles, and when he lays back down, he keeps their hands together as he falls asleep. After a few minutes, Doug closes his eyes too, and drifts off relatively easily, still listening to the air conditioner rasp in the corner.

Forget being in over his head here. Doug is drowning. He has drowned, and he's not going to get back to the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're over halfway through!! As for upcoming projects, I have a few ideas that are currently being plotted (one partially written), including two multi-chapter fics and a one shot. Also, because I'm an absolute dork, I forgot that Eiffel's birthday is Christmas day. So there will be a third chapter of My Broken House Behind Me (And Good Things Ahead) soon. 
> 
> (Btw, Maxwell is absolutely aware of what's happening and she is determined to get these two together.)


	6. A Brief(ish) Hiatus

Hey! I'm sorry to say that in light of some recent personal issues I am taking a one month hiatus from this fic. During that time, I want to restructure the last few chapters and get a head start on them all. I'm really thankful for everyone who has been reading and supporting this fic, and please don't worry! I will be back soon. Thank you for your understanding <3

(This means that the next chapter should be posted on Monday, the 5th of April.)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!


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